You Can Never Go Back: The War
by sunnycouger
Summary: This is a sequal to When It's Time To Leave Home: The aliens are on the home world, but weren't expecting the war they've had to fight. Kyle's captured and it's looking unlikely that they will all return home together. Will they be able to get back to the
1. The War: Chapter 1

You Can Never Go Back...The War: Part 1  
  
A sequel to: When It's Time To Leave Home...  
  
War: to fight amongst others to the death for the aim of fulfilling a goal and becoming the victor.  
  
It had been 4 years. They had been here for 4 years...it seemed like an eternity. They had been flung into battle almost immediately by the resistance and had gone up totally un- prepared for what they had found. They had been misled by the message they had got- it had asked for them to come back and help rebuild the planet. It hadn't said that the planet was still falling apart due to Civil War. It hadn't said that they would have to give everything to free it..it hadn't indicated that they would be in danger as would their loved ones. It hadn't said that they would be as hated as the monsters they were fighting and that there was no true "right" side. It hadn't said anything that mattered.  
  
The rebels were weakened and it would only be a few days before the treaty was signed and the process of rebuilding could commence. The woman sat in the corner of the room in the palace staring at the ruins that was left of the surrounding cities. She didn't care, she didn't care that the war that had caused so much suffering for decades was going to end thanks to their efforts: the efforts of the hybrids and their mates that had come to liberate the planet. She only cared that she couldn't breath because of the pain in her chest that had left her feeling empty and hollow. Tess Harding didn't care about anything..anything except getting him back to her.  
  
She sat alone, her blonde hair tied up high on her head and the tears gathering at the corner of her eyes as she began to do did the same thing she had done everyday for a month. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate on finding her lover, her fiancÃ©- her soulmate. She had done it everyday since he was captured and desperately tried to alleviate the pain he was feeling. As she found him she involuntarily grimaced at what they had done to him, what they were doing to him as she could only be beside him and not help. She hated them. She swore to him silently that she would kill them all for what they were doing to him- to them. He tried again to make her leave as he had done everytime she had entered his head during the "interrogation" sessions and again he failed. She was stronger than he was and she always stayed even though she felt everything they did to him to try and break his spirit. She felt their torture, she felt his pain but she also always felt his love for her and his loyalty to the others. She needed to be there, to know that he was still alive, to help ease his pain and to make sure he knew that they were coming for him: that she was going to rip them apart once she got near them, treaty or no treaty. She felt the heat of the rods as they pressed them against his skin and she immediately dulled his pain-receptors and filled his head with emotions that she was feeling- her love for him and the thought of the family they would have when he was free and back home. She smiled as he inwardly smiled at the thought before he was suddenly jolted back to the room where his "interrogators" were busy breaking his hand. His defiant scream broke the connection between them and she went crashing to the floor where she began to sob uncontrollably..she couldn't help him, she wasn't strong enough.  
  
It was Liz that found her on the floor a few minutes later, still crying. Liz ran to her friend and wrapped her in a protective hug, fearing that she had discovered the worst.  
  
"Is he..is he..ok?" she pulled back slightly to see her reaction and was relieved to see the gentle nod of the head in reply.  
  
She saw the tears were still falling and she felt a surge of empathy for this woman who she had grown to love like a sister over the years despite a rocky start. Liz Parker-Evans knew what it was like to be powerless to help your soulmate no matter how much you knew they needed you. She knew it was killing her. She moved in close to Tess and quietly whispered to her.  
  
"We're going to get him back tonight Tess, he'll be home tomorrow."  
  
"Re..really?" Tess' voice was as hopeful as it had been since it had happened.  
  
"We're leaving in about an hour, Michael and Max are getting the equipment ready and I've to meet them and the rest of the squad in a minute to get the plan..."  
  
"I'm coming!"  
  
"No! No Tess you're not. Max said you've not to come. I know it's frustrating, believe me I know, but you aren't fit enough, you're still injured and your powers aren't strong yet. You took a beating when we lost him in the first place; you still haven't healed yet. You need to stay here and get strong for him coming back to you."  
  
"But.."  
  
"But nothing..I've left the kids with their "grandma", istill weird calling her that,/i so they'll be fine. Will you be ok?"  
  
"I'd be better if I was going, but I'll be fine once he's back. Do me a favour Liz? Bring the bastards back that have him..I want to see them.."  
  
Liz looked at her, she had hatred in her eyes for them and she understood why she needed them. She nodded her head. "You got it. He'll be fine. Go to the Queen, she'll need help with those two, and it'll be safer there. I'll see you in few hours."  
  
She began to walk away when she heard Tess call out after her. "Liz. You all be careful ok? We're so close to getting back..I just want it to be all of us that go. Be safe."  
  
"We'll all be fine..we'll get home together..Bye Tess be careful as well."  
  
With that Liz disappeared from view as Tess began to make her way to the Queen and the Evans' children. It wouldn't be long now..he would be here beside her and they could get back home and have their own family. She wanted to tell him they were coming but she was still weak from the last connection but, for the first time in a month, she smiled as she walked the empty corridors of the cold palace.  
  
"We're coming for you Kyle, you'll be safe now. We'll soon be back home..we'll soon be safe.." As she finished she felt a little "pop" in her head and she smiled, for some reason he must have heard her, felt her. For some reason...he knew.  
  
TBC  
  
iAN. Thank you so much to everyone who left feedback on the When It's Time To Leave Home thread. I should let you all know that there is a lot of this to go...first we'll see what's happened on Antar, then we'll go to earth and see what's happened on earth and then we'll join the aliens as they return to earth and their attempts to reintegrate. Anyway, hope you stick with me for the ride and I hope you enjoy :)/i 


	2. The War: Chapter 2

You Can Never Go Back...The War: Part 2  
  
A sequel to: When It's Time To Leave Home...  
  
The room was dark and grey. The smell of burnt flesh made him nauseous as he realised it was coming from his own body. He couldn't see past his swollen eyelids that were caked with blood but he knew that they had left the room and that he would have a few hours before they came back to see "what he knew". He was quite a prize for the rebels. Not only was he a human..one of only two actually living on the planet, he was also the consort of one of the hybrid "saviours" and as such he was a valuable bargaining chip and he also held a vast amount of potentially valuable information. They all knew that wars were won and lost on the quality of information that the armies had and they desperately needed some of it out of his head. Unfortunately, thus far, his resolve had been greater than expected. Hell, it was greater than he expected.  
  
Kyle groaned as he tried to sit up, the pain from his broken bones stabbing at him with every breath that he took. He tried to look around to see if there were any other prisoners that might be able to heal him a little before they came for him. He had heard her tell him they were coming to get him and it had refreshed his belief that he could make it..that he would make it. He needed to get ready so that he wasn't jeopardising them anymore than he already was even though he knew that Tess, Max or Michael would fix him up when they arrived.  
  
He didn't want them to know everything that they had done to him.  
  
He didn't want any of them to know how close he came to telling everything, if only they would leave him alone and let them all go back. He didn't want them to know how scared he was. Looking around again he didn't see anyone that could help him so he closed his eyes and thought of her and how close he was, how close they all were to going back home...together, where they belonged.  
  
The two people stood at the front looking at the rest of the room.  
  
"Hardly an enthusiastic crowd you picked Maxwell. I don't think they are going to be a lot of use to us." Michael said as he looked around at the soldiers sitting around the room.  
  
Max looked at him and shook his head. "They'll be fine. They'll do what I tell them..they'll be fine."  
  
Michael sighed. "You know, eventually you are going to have to wake up and realise that they are not following you because they respect you. You, Tess, Kyle, Liz, the kids and me..we're hated here and they only tolerate us because of who we were. If they had a chance they would do the exact same thing the humans would do to us; put us on a slab and open us up."  
  
"Michael..I think you've made your point.."  
  
"Just don't think that this blind faith is eternal because of who you used to be. They don't care about you, they just want to survive."  
  
"Michael! If you're finished with the speech, maybe we can get going sometime in the next hour. I know what you're saying and I know it's true but..we need them for this. We'll be fine." With that they all began to file out of the room with the 6 soldiers slowly walking behind them towards the ship. As they left the room Max saw his wife walk towards them. She gave him a weak smile as he asked her how Tess was.  
  
"Well, she's really upset that she's not going with us. She wants his torturers brought home to her.."  
  
"What did you tell her? She knows that we can't go in too hard. We need to preserve the treaty and then we can get home.."  
  
"Max, she doesn't care about the stupid treaty, she just wants him back. I know exactly how she feels with him being hurt and not able to save him, helpless and useless." Her brown eyes were passionate as she spoke and Max knew what she was referring to.  
  
"Liz, I know this is hard for both you and Tess but please believe me when I say we'll be fine with Michael and me. There wouldn't be much of a difference with the three of us anyway."  
  
"There would have been if there was 4 of us…" Michael muttered as he walked towards the ship.  
  
"Michael we all made our own decisions. She chose to stay and we chose to go. Deal with it." Max had heard this many times before. Michael had never been able to get over his bitterness that Isabel had a normal life whereas the rest of them had gone to hell.  
  
"Whatever Max, all I'm saying is that we could have been home two years ago if she had came with us. C'mon you two before it's light again."  
  
As they were left alone Max gently kissed Liz and silently asked her to stay. She replied as she always had since they had arrived, with a gentle kiss and a slight shake of the head..she had continually amazed him with her courage. As much as he cared for Kyle, he had thanked God the night that he had been taken because it hadn't been Liz. He would have killed them all if they had even looked at her.  
  
As she looked at him he smiled at her as he took her hand towards the ship. "You do know that I love you don't you?"  
  
Liz smiled at him and nodded her head. "I love you too Max. Thank you."  
  
"C'mon Mrs Evans, lets go complete our contingent and blow this joint."  
  
"Your wish is my command, dear leader."  
  
They walked in the ship hand in hand as the doors closed behind them and they left the port to rescue their friend.  
  
Kyle had raised himself to a standing position and began pacing the floor hesitantly. It had been a few hours since he got the message from Tess and he was beginning to worry. They should have been here by now. As much as he wanted out of here he wasn't prepared for them to be captured as well. He wasn't willing to let Tess get touched by them just to save him. "C'mon guys. Where are you? Come and get me."  
  
He didn't hear the cell door open and the guard come in behind him. He didn't know anything until he felt his knees buckle from the kick behind them and felt his face pressed down onto the floor and felt the weight of the guard on his back. His already fractured ribs felt as though they had just shattered into dust as he struggled to find his breath. The guard had grabbed his hair and brought his head down hard against the concrete floor repeatedly leaving him semi-unconscious. Through the daze, as he felt himself slipping away he heard the guard scream at him.  
  
"You led them straight for us! They came straight for us..it's all over now! You stupid human..did you think for one minute that we wouldn't kill you once we were found out! We're all gong to die and it's all your fault..so you die too."  
  
As the room began to swirl around him he vaguely felt his body being kicked and punched as the last remnants of conscious thought left his body vocally. "Love you..Tessie…"  
  
Outside the compound Michael called over towards Max. "Max, over here! The prisoners are over here! C'mon."  
  
"Go Michael, we'll take on the guards and be there in a minute. Just make sure he's ok." With that Max fired a blast at his assailant, as the rebels tried in vain to escape before they were captured. They knew that as soon as the humans mate caught them they would be dead.  
  
Max glanced at Liz as she blasted the weapon at them, he knew that she wanted to kill them for Tess, but he also knew that she was holding back for all of them. For the sake of the treaty she was letting them live. There was only a handful of them left he noticed and they were busy trying to escape so he yelled at the others to follow him towards the prison where Michael had already headed.  
  
Michael had run down the corridor to the prison where there was only a few rebels left. He quickly disposed of them and went looking for Kyle's cell. As he found the cell, he saw the guard pummelling Kyle with a barrage of blows to the head and body. Instinctively he let the power erupt from his fingers and the guard went crashing to the floor in a heap. He ran to Kyle and checked his pulse.  
  
"Kyle, c'mon..c'mon, be alive. Think of Tess. MAX!! MAX! GET DOWN HERE! Kyle open your eyes come on!"  
  
He seen that there was no response and instinctively tried to heal some of the damage that had been done by a month of torture. As he formed a connection he felt the memories and feelings coming from Kyle as the damage began to heal. Kyle abruptly opened his eyes as Michael fixed some of the damage and the connection was broken. Max came running in the room to see Kyle struggling for breath and Michael struggling to his feet. He immediately walked over to him and began to heal his broken ribs and the internal bleeding that he was suffering.  
  
"Oh My God Kyle! Are you ok?" Liz came running in the room with concern in her voice.  
  
"I will be thanks to you guys. Thank you Michael, thanks Max.."  
  
Michael just shrugged his shoulders and Max just squeezed his shoulder and helped him to his feet.  
  
"Listen, we have to go. They will get reinforcements in a few minutes. It's great to see you Kyle but we have to leave. Now!" With that Liz ran out the room and began yelling at the others to begin evacuating. Max smiled proudly while Kyle smiled.  
  
"Well I see..see you're still whipped Max…something's never change…"  
  
They smiled as both Michael and Max began to guide him out the room when he told them to stop "Where's Tess? Is she ok? They don't have her do they?" He was beginning to panic.  
  
"Tess is injured. She can't fight yet and we weren't gong to risk her to come here. Ok?"  
  
"You better not be lying to me…Evans, I'll ki..kill you if she's in danger. I swear..."  
  
Michael looked at Kyle and shook his head. "Stop being a jack-ass Valenti, Max isn't lying to you and besides, you would have trouble killing a flipping caterpillar just now so just chill ok?"  
  
They began to drag him along and into the ship as everyone else was getting inside. The ship left and they disappeared from view back to the palace.  
  
"I'm sorry..Max. It's..it's just.." Max looked at the man sitting in front of him. He knew what it was liked to be tortured, but his ordeal only lasted a day and it had scarred him for years. Kyle had been tortured for a month and still didn't give up anything to put them in jeopardy. He had taken a long time to like Kyle, now he had grown to rely on him more than he ever thought he would do. He knew that he would be able to help him in the future come to terms with things but that just now, all he needed was a friend.  
  
"Shh Kyle, I know EXACTLY what you mean and how you are feeling, more than the others will. We'll all be fine."  
  
"Thanks…" Kyle smiled gently as Michael and Liz came towards him. As he talked he tried to call Tess with his mind to let her know that he was coming home. "I'm coming home Tessie, I won't let them hurt you again. I'm coming for you.."  
  
TBC 


End file.
